Scientists in the US have designed a biosensor that could be used to study the metabolism of free-flying birds in real time. 
There is still much we could learn about wild bird species to help us understand their behaviour, biology and evolution. The fast metabolism of birds makes them very responsive to environmental changes so bird studies are also very useful in ecology research.
Researchers have tracked migration patterns using radio tags and data loggers, but physiological states are mainly assessed by capturing the birds and taking blood samples. Such samples will only provide information of a bird’s current state, which will vary widely depending on the time of year, breeding, migration and so on. A device that tracks a bird whilst monitoring its physiological state would provide in depth information, particularly on migrating birds that travel thousands of kilometres.
Abdurrahman Gumus and colleagues at Cornell University have designed a sensor that could be used to track a bird whilst monitoring its physiology. Gumus says ‘although we have the ability to track the position of birds and, to some degree, correlate their behaviour with environmental conditions, the ability to actually directly link this with the physiological state opens up an entirely new way of conducting ornithological research’.
To read the full article, please visit Chemistry World.
Real-time in vivo uric acid biosensor system for biophysical monitoring of birds
A. Gumus, S. Lee, K. Karlsson, R. Gabrielson, D. W. Winkler and D. Erickson
Analyst, 2014,139, 742-748
DOI: 10.1039/C3AN01787G, Paper
